You Don't Have To Be Strong
by dakotaTVD
Summary: After a year of being at college, Taylor Gilbert has returned to Mystic Falls after the death of her aunt to help her two little siblings. She will have to put up with the love triangle and originals but, she ends up with a romance and friendships along the way. Kol/OC-Rebekah/OC Friendship-Rated M for language and future chapters..
1. Prologue

**Hello friends. I am back with another story, and if you go to my page to look at the other story you will not find it as it has been deleted. I lost my muse for that story so I am starting fresh with a new story line! **

**This story is still going to be Kol/OC but it is starting from after the sacrifice and right before the Jenna/John funeral. **

**I know that this is really early to start a Kol love story but I want to be able to build up relationships and the character of Taylor.**

**Please enjoy! (:**

* * *

Prologue

Taylor pulled up to the house she missed so dearly over the past year. But with coming home meant all of the bad memories of what happened can flooding back. Over the last couple of months she couldn't focus on her school work. Her freshman year of college was a blur and she definitely wouldn't go back.

She had been talking with Jeremy ever since he found out about the supernatural. He was mad that Taylor didn't tell him. He soon got over it when he needed someone to talk to about Anna and all the other problems that have surfaced because of Elena's tie to vampires.

Jeremy called her back because of Jenna's death. He didn't know what else to do, Taylor would legally be their guardian.

She finally got the courage to walk up the porch and open the door, as she did that Jeremy was coming down the stairs.

"Jer." She whispered. She ran over to him, her heels clicking as she went. As soon as she felt her younger brother hold her against his chest tightly, she burst into tears.

The tears were for not being able to spend the last year of hell with her younger siblings. Or Jenna. Jenna had told her to go to college because it could help her get over the loss of her parents. John too. Unlike her siblings, Taylor was always very close to John. He could be considered her second father other than just her uncle. After she found out Elena was John's biological daughter, she secretly wished it was her.

"Tay, please calm down. You need to be strong for Elena right now." Jeremy said trying to calm his sister down.

She sniffed, "I know Jer, but if I was still here, maybe none of this would have happened. To begin with I should have just gone to pick Elena up from that party and maybe mom and dad would still be here. That would have lead to Jenna never having to take care of you guys. Even then, I should have stayed. I'm so so sorry Jeremy." She hugged him even tighter.

* * *

Damon and Stefan were in the living room listening to the conversation. Everyone had told them about the mysterious older Gilbert but they had never met her.

"Well I am going to introduce myself to the illustrious elder Gilbert." Damon said.

"Give them a little Damon. They just lost Jenna and John. They have lost a lot. We will talk to them after their reunion." Stefan pleaded.

* * *

"Tay?" a voice called from upstairs.

"Lena. Oh god. Come here."

Elena hurried down the steps to get to the comfort of her sisters arms. The arms of the sister who had been there to vent about her first kiss and all of the issues between her Caroline and Bonnie growing up.

"I am here now. I promise you, I will never leave you again." Taylor reassured her.

* * *

After they got their reunion finished Damon and Stefan came into the foyer.

"You must be Taylor. I'm Stefan. I am really sorry for your loss." Stefan put out his hand.

"Please Stefan, you stole my little sisters heart, call me Tay. By the way if you hurt her I will personally drive a stake through your heart." Taylor said with a smile.

"Oh Elena, why didn't you tell me your sister was sassy. I'm Damon and I think we could be great friends." Damon interjected.

"Well, if we are to be friends, I must go say goodbye to a few family members." Tay's smile faded as she said it.

* * *

They made it to the cemetery. Everyone was there; Taylor, Elena, Jeremy, Stefan, Damon, Alaric, Bonnie, Caroline. They were all there on the hard day of saying goodbye to Jenna and John.

Together they cried and comforted each other. Taylor watched Stefan and Damon walk away and decided to talk to them so she can state her ground and mark her territory.

"Gonna head back to the house." Stefan told Damon.

"I think I'll skip the coffee and tea cakes" Damon retorted.

"Damon, she needs us right now. All of us."

"Then what's the plan Stefan? The curse is broken. How does one go about killing an all powerful wolf-vamp and his two-faced older brother?"

"I have no idea."

"We need to get an idea. Fast. "

"I'm not going to let Elena loose anybody else."

"Wouldn't make any promises brother."

Stefan looked clueless, "What do you mean?"

"Tyler Lockwood bit me. It was actually more of a nip really but, here it is."

"We will find something." Stefan whispered, "A cure."

Damon shook his head at Stefan's optimism, "There is no cure."

"We kept Elena human. We found a way when there was no way. Hey, I will do this."

"You want to do something for me, keep this from Elena. The last thing she needs is another grave memorial." Damon patted Stefan's shoulder and turned walking in the opposite direction of everyone.

Taylor watched the whole scene go down. She was hesitant to say something but she knew that the only way to help her sister was to help the Salvatore brothers. "Stefan... He's dying, isn't he? That's what a werewolf bite does to a vampire." Stefan only nodded. "I want to help. I don't know if keeping this from Elena is the best idea but, I will help you try and find a cure."

Together, they made a silent agreement to do whatever it takes to help Damon. Until the last second. Taylor knew that this town was going to be the death of her.

* * *

**I hope you all enjoyed! Please leave a review! Also if you could in the review say whether or not you want to read about...**

**A.) Taylor staying and helping Elena find Stefan after he leaves with Klaus. **

**or**

**B.) Have Klaus take Taylor as well.**

**Thanks (:**

**-Dakota**


	2. As I Lay Dying

**Sorry for not updating! I'm getting into it now working on the next few chapters right now!**

**Sorry for the mistakes. I wrote this at midnight but I really wanted to get it out for you all!**

* * *

Chapter 1

Taylor walked into the Salvatore Boarding house. "Stefan? Where are you?" she called out. She looked around to see the basement door open. As she walked down she heard Stefan speaking to Damon.

"You're not dying today."

"We'll find a way out of this. Taylor and I are going to try." He looked over and saw her standing in the stairwell.

"Oh, right. Miracle cure. Good luck with that one."

"We have Bonnie looking for something." He stated. "Anything."

"Always a hero Stefan. Just tell me goodbye, get it over with."

"Damon, we are going to help you, got it?" Taylor piped up.

"Lie still, to conserve your strength." Stefan added.

* * *

Alaric was at the bar, drinking his sorrows over the loss of Jenna. He groaned as his phone started ringing. "Sorry, you've reached someone who is currently not operating."

Taylor rolled her eyes annoyed with his response. "We need your help."

"Well, you must have me confused with somebody else. You see I'm not aloud to help, just idly sit by while my girlfriend gets sacrificed on an altar of blood."

"You might be forgetting something," she paused, "I lost Jenna too. I grew up with her. Now is your time to help, Damon is dying."

Alaric was shocked, "What?"

"Tyler Lockwood bit him. We don't have much time."

"What do you need?"

* * *

Bonnie was in the old witch house, lighting candles.

"Can't you use your witch mojo and light the candles with your mind?" Taylor asked.

She ignored her and turned to Stefan, "I'm not sure this is going to work."

"You've done a seance before right? Contacted Emily Bennett. Maybe one of the witched may know how to help Damon."

"Let's just hope they want to." They stood while Bonnie closed her eyes and began to chant.

She started to look troubled so Taylor spoke up, "Bonnie? Bonnie?"

Bonnie's eyes shot open. "Emily." she paused, "Why have you come here Stefan?"

"We need your help. We need to know if there is a spell that can heal a werewolf bite."

"No. Nature ensures the balance to everything."

Stefan didn't look convinced, "Is that true? Or are you just saying no because it's Damon?"

"Perhaps it is his time to die."

Taylor decided to join this conversation. "No, that's not balance, that's punishment."

"I will not give you what you want."

"So you are saying there is an answer to give?" Taylor asked.

"Please, if you know something, just tell me. Help me save my brother."

Bonnie-Emily looked as if she was contemplating the decision when she started screaming. Stefan and Taylor ran to her sides. "Bonnie." They said in unison.

"They don't want us here. They think I'm abusing my power.

"They know something. There's an answer. They just don't want to tell me." Stefan pleaded.

"I heard them say a name."

"What was it?" Taylor questioned.

"Klaus."

They looked at each other on horror thinking that the answer to their questions would be in the evil hybrid himself.

* * *

They made their way into town square, Stefan thought it would be best to tell Elena that Damon was dying. He told Taylor that Damon is in love with her little sister. She didn't know what to think. Two vampires in love with her sister, who was a doppelgänger. Grayson and Miranda told her about the vampire history in Mystic Falls when she turned 18, only a few months before the accident that ended both of her parents lives.

"Hey." Stefan greeted Caroline and Elena.

"Hey, look who couldn't resist an epic romance. Tay? You hate these movies." Elena questioned.

Taylor scoffed, Stefan bent down, "Will you come, take a walk with me?" Elena hesitated for a moment before getting up and grabbing Stefan's hand.

Taylor and Caroline watched them walk away.

"Care, how are you doing with the whole, 'my mom knows I am a vampire' thing?"

"I don't know I've been avoiding her, I know I explained it to her once, but what if she tries to kill me?" She said.

"Caroline Forbes, are you telling me you aren't willing to take a chance? This is the girl that the minute she had the chance, tried to steal head cheerleader from me. Given I let you have it when I graduated anyway, but you are a fighter. I want to reassure you that it will be okay, but I can't. No one knows what is going to happen in the future, look at you, you are a vampire. A year ago your biggest worry was what you were going to do for the next cheer. The world is a much bigger place then anyone ever imagined. Stefan is telling Elena how Damon is dying right now. Tyler bit him the other night, while Damon was saving you two, there is a cure. Stefan and I are going to find it. The only downside is, we have to find Klaus."

Caroline looked horrified, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Damon is part of what can make Elena happy. She has lost a lot, we all have. Anything I can do to make sure no one else dies, I will. I have to go. Keep an eye on Jer for me."

* * *

They walked up the stairs to Alaric's apartment. Katherine was sitting on the bed.

"Damn, you look exactly like Elena." Taylor put together.

"Two days I have been waiting here. I am supposed to be free from Klaus' compulsion by now, he's supposed to be dead." Katherine spat.

"We ran into complications."

"Complications?"

"Are you two going to fight like dogs all day? It doesn't really matter, We just need to find him. Any idea where he is?" Taylor piped.

Katherine vamp-sped grabbing Taylor and Stefan and bringing them towards a wall.

"Klaus. You're back. Look who decided to come for a visit." She pulled both of them out revealing them to the two original brothers that had walked through the door.

"You just keep popping up, don't you." Klaus' strong british accent sent chills down Taylor's spine.

"We need your help." Stefan pleaded. "For my brother."

"Well, whatever it is, it's going to have to wait a tick, you see I have an obligation to my brother, that requires my immediate attention." Klaus walked towards them, but only ended up walking around them. He had not said a word about Taylor being there.

Elijah spoke up, " You understand how important family is or you wouldn't be here, my brother gave me his word he would reunite me with my own."

Klaus appeared behind Elijah, "And so I shall." He then proceeded to plunge a dagger straight into his heart. He let his brother fall to the floor. He then sped up to Stefan holding him to a wall.

"Stefan!" Taylor screamed. Katherine went behind her and held her arms back.

"Now what am I going to do with you, and you," He said stealing a glance over to Taylor, "Ms. Gilbert."

* * *

Klaus stuck a stake into Stefan's stomach. He screamed out in pain. Taylor wiggled in Katherine's hold trying to get free to help him.

"Do you feel that," Klaus whispered to Stefan, "it's scraping against your heart. The slightest little movement, and you're dead."

Taylor decided since she couldn't do anything physically she would vocalize it, "He is just trying to help his brother. The witches said you have a cure. Make us a deal. Just give us the cure and we will do whatever you want."

He pulled the stake out of Stefan and walked gingerly over to the counter. Katherine let Taylor go and she ran to Stefan's side to make sure he was okay.

"The problem is, I don't know if you will be any good to me. The way you are now. You are just shy of useless." Klaus came around him and bent down. "I heard about this one vampire, always on and off the wagon. For decades. When he was off, he was magnificent. 1917, he went to Monterey and wiped out an entire migrant village... A true ripper. Sound familiar?" He smirked.

"I haven't been that way in a very long time."

"Well, that's the vampire I can make a deal with. That is the kind of talent I can use when I leave this town, and you, will be a good pretty face to have along on the journey."

Taylor helped Stefan stand up. Klaus could see the hesitation in their eyes. "Katerina, come here." She slowly came over until he grabbed her arm and the vamped out biting down on her wrist and she screamed. He bit into his own wrist and force fed her blood. "You want your cure? There it is."

Taylor looked astonished, "Your blood is the cure."

"Gotta love Mother Nature." He reached out and put his hands on their shoulders, "Now... Let's talk, the three of us."

* * *

Klaus is squeezing some of his blood into a vial. They are all looking at him including Katherine from a far.

"There it is. You want to save Damon? How 'bout a decade-long bender? And I have big plans for the two of you when we leave this town.

"He isn't like that anymore." Taylor said.

"Well, that's too bad. He would have made a hell of a wingman." He began to pour his blood down the kitchen sink.

"Wait."

"Now that's more like it. I want you to join me for a drink." He threw him a blood bag.

"Stefan, what are you doing."

"Taylor... It's for Damon." She nodded. He popped open the cap and took a drink.

"Finish it. All of it. You do everything I say, and I save your brother. That's the deal."

Stefan obeyed and drank the entire blood bag. Taylor looked in horror knowing that whatever came out of this wasn't going to be pretty. After he had finished Klaus threw him another one.

"Again."

Once again he downed the bag in record time. Taylor was worried, and Klaus just smirked.

* * *

Piles of blood bags had grouped on the floor of Alaric's living room. Stefan drinks the bag in his hand until there isn't a drop left.

"You're are very cooperative. It's almost as if you're enjoying it." He handed him another blood bag.

Taylor saw the perfect time to intervene, "No more. Not until you give us the cure. Hasn't he proven himself to you?"

"Not until we make a deal. It's up to the two of you. You can either remain living your life in Mystic Falls with no doppelgänger, or you can embrace what you truly are and what you truly can be, leave town with me and save Damon's life." Stefan and Taylor looked at each other. Together they nodded and he ripped open the blood bag and drank it. It would be better to get Damon cured so he could look over Elena while Stefan and Taylor get Klaus far, far away from Mystic Falls.

"That's the spirit." He takes the vial and looks at Katherine and tries to compel her. "Sweetheart, take this over to Damon and come right back."

"You want me to leave?"

"NO!" Stefan and Taylor screamed.

"Yes," Klaus said completely ignoring the plead to stop, "and if I were you..." She disappeared, "I'd hurry."

Stefan and Taylor look at each other before saying, "She'll never take it to him."

* * *

Elena texted both Stefan and Taylor telling them Damon was okay and asking them where they were and if they were okay. Katherine had obviously told them that they had agreed to go with Klaus to save Damon's life.

"So, did Katerina make it in time?"

"You wouldn't be seeing her again, you know." Taylor pointed out.

"Because she's on vervain? I've been around a long time, Taylor. I rarely get played for a fool. Besides, she won't get far. You two will help me see to that."

"What is it you really want from us?"

"All will be explained in time. Once we leave this tragic little town."

Stefan spoke up, "Then we are done here? Can we go?"

"Not quite. You see, I have a gift for you, Stefan." A girl walks forward, "Come here sweetheart. Don't be afraid. See, I wanna make sure you honor our deal... That you'll be of use to me." He bit into her neck. "I could have compelled her to behave, but a real ripper enjoys the hunt." He let the girl go and she runs screaming. Stefan vamps out and attacks her, drinking her dry.

"What do you want me for, I'm just a human."

"Like I said love, all will be explained in time. For now, we can go."

* * *

**Hope you like the chapter!**

**Please leave a review if you liked it! **

**For next chapter:**

**WOULD YOU LIKE TAYLOR TO TURN INTO A VAMPIRE OR NOT?!**


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